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Splitting Heirs
| music = Michael Kamen | cinematography = Tony Pierce-Roberts | editing = John Jympson | studio = Prominent Features | distributor = UIP (UK/International) Universal Pictures (US/Canada) | released = | runtime = 87 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = | gross = $3,246,063 (US) | preceded_by = | followed_by = }} Splitting Heirs is a 1993 British black comedy film directed by Robert Young and starring Eric Idle, Rick Moranis, Barbara Hershey, Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Cleese and Sadie Frost. It features music by Michael Kamen. It was entered in the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. Plot The film centers on the aristocratic family of the Dukes of Bournemouth (England), upon which misfortune has fallen throughout history, leading its members to believe the family is cursed. The most recent heir, Thomas Henry Butterfly Rainbow Peace, was left in a restaurant as an infant in the 1960s; by the time his parents remembered him, he had disappeared. Meanwhile, in the 1990s Tommy Patel has grown up in an Asian/Indian family in Southall, never doubting his ethnicity despite being taller than anyone else in the house, fair-haired, blue-eyed, light-skinned—and not liking curry. From the family corner shop he commutes to the City where he works for the Bournemouth family's stockbroking firm, handling multimillion-pound deals. Tommy is given the job of acting as host to the visiting American representative of the firm, Henry Bullock, who turns out to be the son of the head of the firm, the present Duke. They become friends and the friendship survives Henry becoming the new Duke when his father dies. Circumstantial evidence shows that the true Bournemouth heir is actually Tommy; we see a series of family portraits each of which captures something of Tommy's facial characteristics, and his Indian mother tells him the story of his adoption. He consults the lawyer who dealt with his adoption, Raoul P. Shadgrind, who says Tommy has no hope of proving his claim, but plants the idea of him obtaining his rightful place in the family by getting Henry out of the way; Shadgrind himself then engineers a variety of 'accidents' in the belief that he will share in the spoils as Tommy's partner. The delightfully-complicated love interest comes with Tommy's and Henry's (shared at the same time) lover, later the new Duchess and their (shared at different times) mother, the dowager Duchess. As befits a classical comedy of errors, the final resolution of everyone's doubts and misconceptions leaves everyone living "happily ever after - "well, for a bit, at least..." Cast * Eric Idle - Tommy Patel/Thomas Henry Butterfly Rainbow Peace, Duke of Bournemouth * Rick Moranis - Henry Bullock * Barbara Hershey - Duchess Lucinda * Catherine Zeta-Jones - Kitty Farrant (as Catherine Zeta Jones, before she added the hyphen) * John Cleese - Raoul P. Shadgrind * Sadie Frost - Angela * Stratford Johns - Butler * Brenda Bruce - Mrs. Bullock * William Franklyn - Andrews * Richard Huw - Brittle * Charu Bala Chokshi - Mrs. Patel (as Charubala Chokshi) * Jeremy Clyde - 14th Duke of Bournemouth * Eric Sykes - Jobson the Doorman Reception The film received mostly negative reviews and currently has a score of 8% on Rotten Tomatoes. Box office The film performed poorly. Video release The film has been released on VHS in the United States and Britain. A Region 1 DVD has been released in the United States, and a Nordic edition Region 2 DVD was released in 2010.http://cdon.no/film/en_arving_for_mye-11717151 References External links * * Category:1993 films Category:1990s black comedy films Category:British black comedy films Category:British sex comedy films Category:1990s sex comedy films Category:Comedy thriller films Category:Films about murder Category:Films about royalty Category:British films Category:Films with screenplays by Eric Idle Category:Films directed by Robert Young Category:Universal Pictures films Category:Film scores by Michael Kamen